“Cristin was an invaluable resource in underwriting a custom
and comprehensive PLL policy,” which covered a recent acquisition
that involved spinning off a contaminated site to a third party, one
client noted.

The client needed an affordable pollution legal liability policy that would cover all site
risks. Bullen “made a market for our policy where there really wasn’t one,” the client said.

In its purchase of a large paper company, another client spun off the acquisition’s
paper mills to a third party that was not purchasing environmental impairment liability
coverage excess of a fund the original seller established. The third party also structured its
acquisition to limit its environmental exposure.

“Steve Manz has the very unique ability to speak two languages,” a
client observed.

“One language enables Steve to talk in ‘geotechnical’ terms withfolks on our side and translate what he’s understood into ‘insurancelingo’ so underwriters gain sufficient knowledge of the risk.”That ability allowed the client to resurrect an acquisition dealthat had died because of site contamination. A consultant previously remediated a sitecontaminant, but the treatment triggered an inactive chemical in the soil.

A city well located off the property complicated the issue; the site owner attempted but
failed to purchase environmental coverage, so the client pulled out of the deal.

In revisiting the deal, the client developed its own remediation plan and engaged Manz to
find coverage to hedge its exposure.

The client said: “[We] bought the business, implemented our remediation plan, saveddozens of high-paying jobs in a rural community and protected residential water supplies inthe process … all because we were able to acquire insurance, thanks to Steve!”Another large client faced an unfavorable renewal of its manuscripted pollution liabilitycoverage, despite a good loss history. The client tapped Manz to negotiate with the insurer.Manz persuaded the carrier to accept 90 percent of the client’s requested terms andconditions — with a 17 percent premium reduction.

Ed MoralesSenior Vice PresidentMarsh, San Francisco

No Stone Unturned

Environmental insurance broker Ed Morales is a master at finding
solutions — including some that clients thought were not possible.

EVRAZ North America retained Morales to make sure it had
the most appropriate coverage by strong insurers at competitive
prices. Beforehand, EVRAZ, which has U.S. and Canadian facilities,
believed it could afford environmental coverage only for its U.S.

facilities, explained Edwin Koopmans, vice president and treasurer.

He found “the right insurers and made sure that they had a good understanding of our
risk profile,” Koopmans said. Morales educated him about the need for coverage in Canada.

“We now have coverage for all of our locations at a premium that is approximately 20percent less than the prior cost.”Another client, which represents real estate investors with widely varying environmentalrisks, faced the loss of its blanket pollution legal liability insurer at renewal.

“With Ed’s hard work, I was able to pull the plug on the blanket a year in advance,
broaden coverage, clarify certain critically important language and pay lower rates,” the
client noted.

For EnergySolutions, which decommissions nuclear power plants, Morales replaced
its PLL coverage in 2016 — with a 35 percent cost decrease — after the incumbent insurer
pulled out of the market, noted Scott D. Michelsen, director, credit, collections & insurance.
Morales also secured advantageous terms and pricing for the 2017 renewal.

Pete Pantalone, CPCUDirectorAon, Philadelphia

Problem Solver

Clients count on Pete Pantalone to resolve problems.

Delaware agency Diamond State Port Corp. needed to rapidly
expand the Port of Wilmington, a leader in banana imports. DSPC
officials found a suitable waterfront parcel, but there were many
other motivated bidders and inadequate time for environmental
reviews, noted Parul Shukla, director, finance & administration.

Officials decided to bid and purchase insurance to limit the DSPC’s financial exposure.

“With the quick placing of the coverage, DSPC was successful in acquiring the site fordevelopment into a state-of-the-art container facility that will double the jobs and improveeconomic impact for the Delaware citizens.”For another client, the reputation of the risk management department has beenburnished because of Pantalone’s assistance in finding an insurance solution for acorporate divestiture with an environmental obligation, the client noted.

“The benefit to the insurance risk management program has been that I am now gettingcontacted to design an insurance solution for M&A deals, since this was a successfulplacement at a relative small cost.”Another client, whose three-year pollution liability program covering global risks wasexpiring in a tough market, praised Pantalone for replacing the program with expandedcoverage at a 20 percent premium reduction.

Sandfrey unilaterally analyzed a client’s existing coverage. He
identified non-concurrent wording issues in the client’s tower, as
well as some “shaving-of-limits endorsements,” the client noted.

Without addressing those problems with the client’s insurers,“there could be a case where an excess layer would not drop down after exhaustionof lower limits,” jeopardizing coverage in higher layers, the client explained. Sandfrey“worked long and hard to educate” the insurers on why the wording was problematic.

Sandfrey also recognized a potential coverage gap if the client ever divested any U.S.
operations where contamination was later discovered.

One example was an environmental policy for a medical center Banner acquired.

Policy terms precluded a premium reimbursement if Banner cancelled the coverage,
but Sandfrey negotiated a deal that allowed Banner to cancel the policy and receive a
$28,000 premium reimbursement in exchange for moving Banner’s entire environmental
portfolio to the insurer — for expanded coverage at a lower cost, Wielenga said.

“We did not believe our problem could be fixed.”

Max WestSenior Vice PresidentAon, Chicago

Seals the Deal

A client’s planned acquisition was complicated. The target’sprevious owner had indemnified only some of the target’s assetsfor contamination, noted attorney John H. Johnson Jr., a partner atTroutman Sanders, LLP, who also represented the client.Johnson explained that broker Max West assembled aninsurance product that would fully cover the environmentalliabilities of the indemnified assets if the previous owner failed to honor its commitment.The policy also covered the non-indemnified assets, with limited exclusions.

“Absent Mr. West’s involvement, the transaction likely would not have been completed,”
Johnson observed.

Another client company was looking for a buyer but encountered a major roadblock:
federal regulators said it was potentially responsible for a Superfund site.

The client’s own analysis, however, indicated it was not responsible for any pollution.

“We could convince ourselves of anything we wanted to, however the biggest issue
remained on dealing with the future unknown liability,” the client said. The client did not
believe insurance would be affordable, but West secured two viable options.

As a result, the client said, the company “was sold with all parties satisfied. The seller
does not have a long-term liability/escrow. The buyer has a 10-year policy to protect the
company against any future claims related to the site. The deal would not have been done
without this type of solution.”